Center for New Institutional Social Sciences
Douglass North, Founder
Douglass North is co-recipient of the 1993 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He joined the faculty of Washington University in 1983 as the Henry R. Luce Professor of Law and Liberty in the Department of Economics, and served as director of the Center for Political Economy from 1984 to 1990. In 1992, he became the first economic historian every to win one of the economics profession's most prestigious honors, the John R. Commons Award, which was established by the International Honors Society in Economics in 1965. His current research includes property rights, transaction costs, and economic organization in history as well as economic development in developing countries. 

Itai Sened, Director
A typical product of the Rochester Ph.D. program of the late 1980's, Itai Sened is currently a full professor at Washington University in St. Louis, and Chair of the Department of Political Science. His main interests are theory of institutions, game theory and applied mathematical modeling. His first book, The Political Institution of Property Rights, was published by Cambridge University Press in 1997. His second book, Political Bargaining: Theory, Practice and Process, with Gideon Dorn, was published in 2001 by Sage Publications. He has also published articles in The American Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Politics and The Journal of Theoretical Politics and different edited volumes. He is the co-editor, with Jack Knight, of Explaining Social Institutions from The University of Michigan Press, 1995, now in a paperback edition. 

Alana Bame, Administrative Assistant
Alana Bame joined CNISS in March of 2001. Along with being the administrative assistant for CNISS, she also works as administrative coordinator for the International Society of New Institutional Economics (ISNIE) and the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Public Policy, and Government, both also at Washington University.
Her prior work experience includes conference planning activities, editing, writing, and research for non-profit organizations and associations in Washington, DC.

Meet CNISS!
Washington University has been nationally recognized for research and teaching on New Institutionalism since the beginning of the movement in the early 1980's. On this page, you will find information about the instructors involved in the CNISS curriculum, as well as the current graduate students. 
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2004-2005 CNISS Board of Directors
Murray Weidenbaum, Honorary Chairman, Weidenbaum Center, Chairman of the Board of Directors 
Lee Benham, Department of Economics 
Margaret Louise Brown, Acadmemic Coordinator, American Culture Studies
Steven Fazzari, Department of Economics 
Jack Knight, Department of Political Science 
Jack Nickerson, Olin School of Business 
Paul Rothstein, Department of Economics; Associate Director of Weidenbaum Center 
Itai Sened, CNISS Director; Department of Political Science 
Andy Sobel, Department of Political Science 
Gautam Yadama, GWB School of Social Work 

2002-2003 CNISS Members

John Drobak, School of Law; Department of Economics; Chairman of the Board of Directors 
Lee Benham, Department of Economics 
Margaret Louise Brown, Department of Anthropology 
Steven Fazzari, Department of Economics 
Wayne Fields, Co-Director of American Culture Studies; Department of English 
Sukkoo Kim, Department of Economics 
Jack Knight, Department of Political Science 
Gary Miller, CNISS Minor Advisor; Department of Political Science 
Jack Nickerson, Olin School of Business 
Douglass North, Nobel Prize Laureate; CNISS Founder; Department of Economics 

Shanta Pandey, GWB School of Social Work 
Paul Rothstein, Department of Economics; Associate Director of Weidenbaum Center
Norman Schofield, Director of Center in Political Economy; Department of Economics 
Itai Sened, CNISS Director; Department of Political Science 
Andy Sobel, Department of Political Science 
Murray Weidenbaum, Honorary Chairman of Weidenbaum Center; Department of Economics 
James Wertsch, Department of Education 
Gautam Yadama, GWB School of Social Work